Marketing senior living communities is something I do for a living. As a strategist, I try to put myself in the shoes of an older person who is facing this life-changing challenge. If I can “walk a mile in their shoes”, I am going to be able to create a persona and a voice for my art director and copywriter to use to create effective communications.

Recently, my mother informed me she is ready to consider senior housing. Until now, she has lived with her husband in her own home. A few health issues and a bad fall last month have prompted her to reassess her situation and look into senior living options.

I am now “walking a mile” with her.

My mother is a saver and a planner. These traits give her many more options. They also make her a good candidate for a Life Plan Community (fka, CCRC) for she only wants to move into a place that offers all levels of care. She and her husband sat down with me and talked over what they were looking for.

I asked a few questions mainly to clarify their motivation and their goals.

Location was an important factor as well. My mother isn’t interested in moving to Florida or Arizona. She likes where she lives and wants to stay local in the San Francisco East Bay. And she has already looked into a couple of places where she has heard good things from her friends at the pool and at her bridge club. We now have a date to visit two of the communities: one has Independent Living and Assisted Living but no Memory Care; the other has only Independent Living.

Being that my mother is still hurting from her fall and her husband doesn’t see well, I will be the driver.

NEXT: Finding The Perfect Community

SGD is a full-service Bay Area advertising, marketing, branding and public relations agency specializing in seniors, boomers and adult children. In addition to working with new senior living communities, we’ve repositioned, rebranded and relaunched senior living communities in California, Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia attaining occupancy rates of 90% or more in very competitive markets.